Review of Rey - Resistance Outfit
Star Wars Force Awakens Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

Did you see Star Wars: Rogue One?  Of course you did - you're a breathing human being. And you saw The Force Awakens as well. And you've made your comparisons, your comments, your reviews.

Mine is simple: they are each their own beast.  While TFA re-used many of the original themes from ANH, it also introduced two characters I really like in Finn and Rey.  I'm interested in seeing where their adventure leads.  And by using many of those old tropes, they manipulated nostalgia to get over the 'first new Star Wars movie' hump and cleanse our palette from the prequels.

Rogue One didn't need to get over that hump. It was telling a story you already knew, at least in general. It filled in the greatest weakness in the plot of ANH, and it did it with a style all its own.  Perhaps most important, there wasn't a Gungan or Ewok in sight.

I found it amusing that half the 'Star Wars fans' hated TFA because it was too much like the original - then half of them hated Rogue One because it wasn't enough like Star Wars. I'd say half of all Star Wars fans are simply not going to like anything new.

Hot Toys is hitting up both new films with plenty of figures. In fact, I have no idea how they plan on producing figures from all the films (although to be fair, I don't see them hitting up the prequels a whole lot) and not set your wallet on fire.

They already produced a Rey from TFA, and are following it up with the variant Rey in Resistance Outfit. There's only one version of this figure - no exclusives or two packs - and she will run you around $225 depending on the retailer. She's currently shipping worldwide.

Packaging - ***
Nothing surprising or unique with the shoe box style package. There's a decent interior card covering the plastic trays with a bit more exciting artwork, but the overall design is quite straight forward. One tray holds the figure and accessories, and it's all collector friendly.

One oddity - mine says 'Sideshow Exclusive' on the outer lid, although I didn't order through Sideshow, and I can find nothing unique about it.

Sculpting - ***1/2
If you have the first Rey, you have this sculpt. It's just as beautiful the second time around, and it still suffers from the same issues I originally had.

I think the likeness is excellent, and they've captured Daisy Ridley's nose, lips, and jawline perfectly. The eyes still look a little too big and round to me, but it's a very minor nit.  The actress is instantly recognizable, and while some critics will start with the litany of 'oh, that's a lovely version of some-actress-other-than-Daisy", the reality of beauty is that many actresses look alike. They don't have extreme differences in their facial structure or sport scars or blemishes - that's why they're beautiful.

The hair sculpt is particularly impressive here, with some super fine stranding.  Other companies can't do it this well yet, and it remains a competitive advantage for Hot Toys. Add in the sublime skin texture and you get a tremendously realistic portrait.

My big issue remains with the emotive quality of the sculpt. The open mouth expression works for me, but the eyes are a little too dead, a little too mannequin. This has been a problem for Hot Toys for some of their females, and too many of their males for that matter. She needs a little more life in the portrait to get the full four stars.

In case you were wondering (and didn't buy the first Rey), the strands of hair down the sides of her face are sculpted plastic. It's a very soft plastic, and very tightly attached.  As a technique for this type of hair, I think it works extremely well.

Rey stands just over 11" tall, which seems about right to me.  Much has been made of her height compared to Finn, but I think the big problem is with Finn, not her. She could stand to be another 1/4" or so taller, but the Finn release needed to be another 3/8" or so shorter as well.

Paint - ****
Once again, Hot Toys impresses with their factory paint. The sublime skin tone seems a little darker this time to me, but still not at the 'tanning booth accident' level of most of their male figures. It also seems just a bit more matte and less reflective, making her more realistic under even bright lights.

The hair line is lightly feathered onto the forehead, making the transition from hair to skin subtle and seamless, and the sharp definition of the eyebrows and lips looks terrific. Even the tiny eyelashes are just about perfect, and there's almost no bleed within the whites of the eyes.

The skin color matches up between the torso, neck, and face as well, thanks to the rubbery skin they've used to cover most of it.

Articulation - ***1/2
This is the same base body that we got with the first release, but I'm marking it down slightly this time.  While the majority of the joints work great, and she can take relatively natural, fluid poses, the restrictive nature of the boots bugged me more the second time out.

The double ball neck works terrific, with a ton of movement that allows you to add attitude to any pose.  The shoulders are unrestricted by the costume, and the elbows and wrists combine to create great arm poses.  The torso is relatively unrestricted as well, although some tilting and leaning movement will create extra work keeping the shirt closed.

The tight pants make the hips a bit less mobile this time, but they also cover up the knees without impeding most poses. The solid, hard boots bind the ankles though, making any rocker or forward/backward movement impossible.

You can get some good poses, but not quite as dynamic as you might expect from a 'resistance fighter'. While they both have the same hard boots, the original release was much more adaptable, thanks to the other less restrictive clothes.

Accessories - ***
Rey is a tad short in this category, and what she does have tends to be re-used from the previous figure.

There's eight hands in total - a pair of fists, a pair of relaxed hands (she comes wearing), a pair of medium grips to hold the staff, a gun grip right, and a wider grip left.  They swap easily enough, but there's some extra pegs just in case.  They hands are made from softer material which allows the accessories to slip in and out with less effort.

She has her trademark staff of course, with a strap to wear it over her shoulder if you'd prefer.  The sculpt and paint are great, just as they were on the regular Rey. Also from the regular Rey is her blaster, which fits neatly inside a holster on her hip. To complete the re-used accessories, she has the light saber hilt but no blade. Again, it looks great, but we already knew that.

Her only unique accessory is her shoulder bag. It drapes over either shoulder, although using it over the right means you can fix a problem with the shirt - more on that in the Outfit section.

Finally, she has the now standard hexagonal base with the Rebel logo and her name. It's not necessary, but it's nice to have for consistency in your display.

Outfit - ***1/2
With the same head sculpt, same body, same (except for one) accessories, one might ask "why buy this figure?" It's for the outfit, man, the outfit.

Her 'resistance outfit' consists of new pants, shirt, vest, arm sleeves, and belt/holster combo.  The boots are the same sculpt, and I already complained about their restrictive nature.

The pants, shirt, sleeves, and vest look great. I particularly like the vest, made from a very thin, fine material. It lays great, and thanks to some terrific tailoring, looks excellent in any pose.

The sleeves have a similar wrap design, but that ends at the elbow.  They cover the wrists in most poses and only allow the outer shoulder to be exposed, hiding that joint as well.

The pants are tight, but long enough to hide the knees in even deeper stances and sitting poses. They are also padded in the butt - she has quite the booty. That's not a bad thing though, since the base bodies on most sixth scale figures are about as ass-less as you can get.

The white shirt has a wrap around design, and while the tailoring and fit are great, it does tend to pooch open at the center when you turn the torso. With some futzing you can get it to flatten out in most poses though, and if you put the pack over the right shoulder, you can use the strap to force it to lay flat as well.

The only area where I was disappointed is the belt and holster. The fake leather material is pretty thin, and feels a tad plasticy and cheap. The holster itself is quite basic, and looks more toy-ish than I expected. It's not at the usual quality level I expect from them.

Fun Factor - ***1/2
While she's not quite as posable as the first release, she still has lots of potential on the shelf. Everything is nice and sturdy too, so you'll have no qualms about posing and re-posing, swapping hands, or swapping weapons.

Value - **
The price is problematic if you consider the earlier release.  You can find first Rey still available some places for under $210, making the $220 - $230 price tag here harder to swallow.  Considering that the first release paired with the excellent BB-8 (that lights up!) is $270 at some retailers, the cost gets even tougher to justify.

Shopping around can help though - one of my sponsors is down around $210 for this version - and if you skipped the original release, preferring this costume, even the normal price point is about average for the market right now.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing this time. Everything is sturdy, and you should have no worries working with her.

Overall - ***1/2
If you have the first release, it's going to be a hard sell with the second.  I prefer the earlier costume, but it's not quality but personal preference that makes me say that. This costume is also more restrictive, particularly in the legs, but you can still get plenty of great poses.

The simple truth is that whether you have the first or not, you'll be very happy with the overall quality of this variation.  Whether or not you can convince yourself you NEED this version is the question - if you can, the $220 won't seem like a price to high.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***
Outfit - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ***1/2
Value - **
Overall - ***1/2

Where to Buy 
Online options include these site sponsors:

- or you can search ebay for a deal.

Related Links -
Of course, you'll want to check out my review of the regular Rey with BB-8, a fantastic set.

I've covered lots of other Hot Toys Star Wars figures, including the Battlefront Shock Trooper, Finn and Riot Control Trooper, Captain Phasma, the FO Flametrooper, the FO Snowtroopers, and the First Order Shock Trooper. Other Hot Toys Star Wars figures include Kylo Ren, Darth Vader, C-3PO, Tatooine Luke Skywalker, Luke in his Shock Trooper Disguise, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Han and Chewbacca from ANH. If you'd like a bit more of a regular Shock Trooper, they've done him as well, along with a Blackhole version. Sidseshow has helped out with the Original Trilogy, with their AT-AT Driver, Jawa set, Hoth Han, Hoth Luke, Tauntaun, Speederbike, and Scout Trooper. They also did a Shock Trooper back in the day.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

Discussion:
Want to chat about this review?  Try out one of these terrific forums where I'll be discussing it!

Enjoyed this review? Be sure to head back to the main page to find thousands more just like it!